Black Jacket Robber sentenced to 9 years

Daniel Tepfer

Published 7:30 pm, Friday, August 15, 2014

BRIDGEPORT -- A city man, responsible for one of the largest robbery sprees in area history, was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison.

Kashawn Brown, also known as the Black Jacket Robber, robbed more than a dozen convenience stores, Subways and gas stations at gunpoint in Bridgeport, Stratford and Trumbull in October and November 2012, according to police. It took more than 15 minutes for Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin to recite all the charges against Brown.

"You were a nightmare for small business owners," the judge told him.

But the man who committed one of the largest robbery sprees got credit for helping police crack the largest gun theft in state history.

Police said the gun Brown used in the robberies was one of more than 100 stolen by Elliot Perez who was hired to transport the new guns into the state.

However, the theft of the guns was not immediately discovered because police said the trucking company, Stratford-based Pace Motor Lines, waited several weeks to file a complaint.

Instead, police said it was Brown, after his arrest for the robberies, who gave them the information that Perez was selling guns out of his home.

Perez, 28, is now facing lengthy prison terms in state and federal courts.

In addition to the nine-year prison term, Devlin added seven years of special parole.